1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to cosmetic stick containers and methods of producing cosmetic sticks in such cosmetic stick containers, and more particularly to a cosmetic stick container that has a cosmetic stick ejected from its sleeve for use and retracted into its sleeve after use and a method of producing a cosmetic stick in such a cosmetic stick container.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, containers for lipsticks, which are cosmetic stick products, have been known as cosmetic stick containers. Such cosmetic stick containers are provided in a variety of structures. One of such cosmetic stick containers has its housing sleeve filled directly with a cosmetic stick material so that a cosmetic stick is molded in the housing sleeve.
This cosmetic stick container includes the housing sleeve, an inner sleeve, an operation part, and the cosmetic stick. The housing sleeve is cylindrical, and the cosmetic stick, which is a lipstick, an eye shadow or the like, is filled into the housing sleeve. The inner sleeve is provided inside the housing sleeve. The operation part is turnably mounted on the lower part of the outer surface of the housing sleeve.
The inner sleeve is coupled to the operation part so that turning of the operation part can raise and lower the inner sleeve inside the housing sleeve. The lower end of the cosmetic stick is secured to the inner sleeve so that the cosmetic stick is raised and lowered with respect to the housing sleeve as the inner sleeve is raised and lowered.
Therefore, by turning the operation part to raise the inner sleeve, the cosmetic stick is ejected from the open upper end of the housing sleeve so as to be applicable to the lip. On the other hand, by inversely turning the operation part to lower the inner sleeve, the cosmetic stick is retracted into the housing sleeve so as to be contained inside the housing sleeve.
The cosmetic stick is molded inside the housing sleeve at a time of producing the cosmetic stick container as follows. First, a cap is placed on the open upper end of the housing sleeve. Next, the housing sleeve is placed upside down so as to have its open upper end facing downward. Then, the cosmetic stick material melted by heat application is poured into the housing sleeve from a hole formed in the bottom portion of the operation part. With the housing sleeve being placed upside down, the bottom portion of the operation part faces upward. Thereafter, the cosmetic stick material is solidified by a given cooling treatment. At this time, the cosmetic stick material is secured to the inner sleeve to be molded into the cosmetic stick inside the housing sleeve.
This molding method does not require a molding part such as an ogive, thus dispensing with the mounting and dismounting of the ogive. Therefore, a molding process can be simplified. Further, this molding method can mold a thinner cosmetic stick than a molding method employing the ogive.
Since the above-described cosmetic stick container employs its housing sleeve to mold the cosmetic stick, the cosmetic stick is molded thinner so as to be popular among consumers as a slim-type lipstick.
However, since this cosmetic stick container directly molds the cosmetic stick inside its housing sleeve, the cosmetic stick is apt to adhere to the inner surface of the housing sleeve. Therefore, the cosmetic stick has a poor mold-release characteristic with respect to the housing sleeve, which is a fundamental problem of this cosmetic stick container.
The strong adhesion of the cosmetic stick to the inner surface of the housing sleeve is not desirable since the adhering part of the cosmetic stick becomes mat or is released poorly from the inner surface of the housing sleeve. Further, in the case of the strong adhesion of the cosmetic stick to the inner surface of the housing sleeve, stress is caused inside the cosmetic stick if the operation part is turned with strong force at a time of ejecting or retracting the cosmetic stick. This may cause the collapse or breakage of crystals of the solidified cosmetic stick material, thus making the cosmetic stick less easy to use.
Here, a lipstick is taken as the cosmetic stick. The recent demand of consumers has been made on a soft, glossy lipstick that goes smoothly on the lip. In order to satisfy this demand, it is necessary to decrease wax and increase lake and high-viscosity oil in the lipstick.
However, if wax is decreased while lake and high-viscosity oil are increased in the lipstick, the lipstick characteristically becomes soft and obtains high-viscosity. That is, an attempt to satisfy the consumer demand further deteriorates the mold-release characteristic of the lipstick, or the cosmetic stick, with respect to the inner surface of the housing sleeve of a container for the lipstick. Therefore, the above-described disadvantage is aggravated, so that the cosmetic stick may have its surface damaged and, in the worst case, be broken.
Therefore, a cosmetic stick container has been provided, which container allows a cosmetic stick included therein to have an improved mold-release characteristic with respect to the housing sleeve of the container. This is realized by applying silicon-based oil on the inner surface of the sleeve as mold lubricant at a time of molding the cosmetic stick inside the housing sleeve.
However, if the cosmetic amount formula for the cosmetic stick includes silicon-based oil, the compatibility causes the cosmetic stick to adhere to the inner surface of the housing sleeve at a cooling time or with the passage of time after molding. Therefore, the above-described disadvantage is not completely eliminated.
It is a general object of the present invention to provide a cosmetic stick container in which the above-described disadvantage is eliminated and a method of producing the same.
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a cosmetic stick container that can reliably prevent the adhesion of a cosmetic stick to the inner surface of the container and improve the mold-release characteristic of the cosmetic stick, and a method of producing the same.
The above objects of the present invention are achieved by a cosmetic stick container including: a housing sleeve; an inner sleeve provided inside the housing sleeve so as to be advanceble and retractable along a length of the housing sleeve; a cosmetic stick molded directly inside the housing sleeve having a capsule attached thereto so as to be secured to the inner sleeve, the cosmetic stick being advanceble and retractable in accordance with advancing and retracting movements of the inner sleeve so as to be ejected from and retracted into the housing sleeve; and a mold lubricant constituted of a composition having low compatibility with a composition of the cosmetic stick, the mold lubricant being applied on inner surfaces of the housing sleeve and the capsule.
The above objects of the present invention are also achieved by a method of producing a cosmetic stick including the steps of (a) preparing a cosmetic stick container for containing the cosmetic stick, (b) applying a mold lubricant on an inner surface of a housing sleeve of the cosmetic stick container and on an inner surface of a capsule to be attached to the housing sleeve, (c) attaching the capsule on a first opening end of the housing sleeve, (d) filling a cosmetic stick material into the housing sleeve from a second opening end thereof so that the cosmetic stick material is molded into the cosmetic stick inside the housing sleeve.
According to the above-described cosmetic stick container and method of producing the same, the mold lubricant is interposed between the cosmetic stick and each of the housing sleeve and the capsule. Since the mold lubricant is constituted of the composition having low compatibility with that of the composition of the cosmetic stick, the cosmetic stick molded directly inside the housing sleeve is allowed to have a good mold-release characteristic with respect to the housing sleeve.
Therefore, the cosmetic stick is prevented from having a mat part formed on its outer surface, thus adding to the appearance of the cosmetic stick. Further, when the cosmetic stick container is used, the cosmetic stick can be advanced or retracted with a little operation force, thus making the cosmetic stick easier to use.
Further, even if the cosmetic stick is made soft to have high-viscosity to meet the demand of consumers, the high mold-release characteristic prevents the cosmetic stick from having flaws on its surface or being broken during advancing and retracting movements of the cosmetic stick. Thereby, the production yield of the cosmetic stick container is increased.